Kyoraku08 Interview
Note: '''This page was been fully transcribed by '''kyoraku08. It was also done before the fanfic was renamed, so "Bleach: The Three Phantoms" may still appear as "Bleach: The 3rd Phantom". Following Nawirama13's suggestion, we decided to do an interview similar to the ones Tite Kubo does from time to time, with the goal of showing a bit of the "behind the scenes" regarding this fanfiction and this entire project. The questions were all written by Nawirama13 himself, focusing mainly on everything that led to the start of this project, exclusive opinions of mine regarding various characters and points in the story, as well as on things that are still to come. Hope you enjoy! N13: So first of all, when did you decide to become a fanfiction writer? K08: I think it was only after I finished playing the Bleach: The 3rd Phantom video game. At the end, I was like "Damn, it's such a shame this ends here. I would really like to see this as a manga spin-off or something like that.", so I kept on thinking on that for a while... At the time, I was reading a lot of fanfiction works, so I ended up deciding to try it out. N13: When you started writing this fanfiction, had you already planned to make a project of such dimensions? K08: Not at all. The only thing I was sure I wanted was to make it as real as possible. By that I mean I wanted to write this as if it was canon. So I started to do my research... By the time I published the first chapter, some good 3 years ago, I knew that Part I would fit perfectly in between Turn Back the Pendulum, so I wanted to write Part I perfectly. I only started to think "bigger" as I approached the end of Part I. N13: Nowadays, you have a DeviantArt account with many pictures and even drawings regarding your story, a Facebook page and this Wikia. How did things develop into that? K08: The DeviantArt idea came as a need to publicize my story. I picked various pictures from the games and used them to represent each chapter I wrote, along with a link to them. I did some character profiles and some drawings from the TBTP Lieutenants... That is still going today, along with updates to every story, including my side projects. As for Facebook, it was the same, but I ended dropping that... DeviantArt has a better range of followers regarding this sort of project. The Wikia... well, that came along with my research. Before I started to write, I went through every episode of the anime, I wrote down each character, each technique, each weapon, went through the manga and some games as well... I have a massive personal Wikia on my laptop, all done with research motives for my story. I ended up deciding on doing a real Wikia a year or so ago. N13: I've seen your personal Wikia. How much time did it take to do that? K08: I've lost many hours, days, weeks, months... That's why despite all difficulties I will finish this story no matter how much it takes. I invested way too much time on it already to just give up. N13: Regarding this Wikia, it's coming on slowly. I've noticed many things that weren't on your personal Wikia. How are you working on it? K08: Well, I'm following the manga right now. Picking up every little detail, as I didn't follow the manga to do my own Wikia. So I'm going chapter by chapter, just picking up stuff and adding it here. I'm just one, so it ends up going slowly, but I like it that way. I have full control on what's happening here. Then, I want every little detail in here, as to me everything's relevant, so of course it takes time. Right now, I'm still in the 70's chapters. I intend to go all the way to the end of the Soul Society Arc and then I'll add everything from the anime until the start of the Arrancar Arc. Then I'll add the things I've written in my fanfiction and only after I finished it will continue from the Hueco Mundo Arc. Keeping up with the timeline. N13: Indeed you are a perfectionist. Coming back to a earlier question, how did things develop after the end of Part I? K08: I had to lose a lot of time preparing the timeline. Part II goes in parallel with the Arrancar Arc, hence why I have to mix up everything. I even separated every event in real days, in order to make it perfect. That includes the anime filler. Everything has to come out perfectly. The deadline is Orihime's kidnapping, so I have to fit everything in the days I have until then, both the Part II story and the anime fillers. It was around that time I decided, hell I'll make everything fit. My story, Kubo's story and the anime fillers. I'll make a perfect timeline, I'll tweak things and I'll make all that happened in Bleach as canon as possible. That's my new goal nowadays. N13: Is it possible? K08: It is. The Bount Arc is a problem. I haven't done anything about it, as Part II happens after that, but I know how I'll make that canon. The first movie and the Baishin OVA also fit around that time. I'll do that some time later. As for the other filler arcs, I'll write my own version which includes Fujimaru and Matsuri before they go to Hueco Mundo. That includes the Shusuke Amagai Arc, DiamondDust Rebellion and Fade to Black. The Zanpakuto Rebellion Arc and the Hellverse movie will happen after Aizen's defeat. As for Part II of Bleach The 3rd Phantom that's the easiest part. Don't worry, everything will work out. N13: So you'll continue the story after the game story ends? K08: Definitely. I can't go into details, I don't like spoilers... But the end will be slightly different and then the story goes on. N13: Will you include Bleach's Part II? K08: I'll try to write my version of the Bleach: Spirits Are Forever With You, which happens during the timeskip as well. As for Part II, or in this case III, I'm still not sure of how things will play out. The Fullbring Arc will probably go as it did, but I'm not sure about the Quincy Arc... It all depends on how Kubo finishes the story. I intend to write a sequel, another thing I've been working on, but my plans will change depending on how things go with Kubo's story. Ignoring the Quincy Arc would go against everything I've been doing until now, but for example... If for some reason he kills Urahara or Kyoraku or someone like that, then I'll be on a tough spot, as I'll have to rewrite a bunch of things I have in my mind. It's tough to say right now... But I still have a bunch of things to write until Kubo finishes the story. He'll definitely finish Bleach before I'm finished with my fanfiction. N13: Would you like to reveal any details about that sequel? K08: I think the name will be "Bleach: The Spirit Keys" or something like that... It will happen either after Fullbring Arc or Quincy Arc. Many fights, many characters will die and the entire existence of Soul Society as we know would definitely be changed. It's something pretty big I have in mind. Good guys will turn out to be evil and bad guys would actually help out. I think it will be a pretty good story. Oh and I intend to reveal a lot of Bankais we haven't seen yet. Shinji, Ukitake... I hope my idea of Kyoraku's Bankai is right, otherwise I'm screwed. N13: There are a lot of things I like from your writing and I would like to ask you about them. First, the fighting sequences which are some of the best I've seen. Where do you find inspiration for them? K08: Well, first it's that research I did. Going quickly into my laptop... I wrote down 86 different techniques for Ichigo! Taken from manga, anime and video games and some I created too. That makes it easier for me if I want to introduce something new. I go there and "Oh, I'll use this one today!"... Kira and Tosen have used game techniques in my story already, so did Kaien. They're new to most of the readers and not absurd since well, they use them in games. As for the fighting sequences themselves, I write them after watching a few battles from various animes. One I can remember clearly was Seigen vs Arturo in Part I, which I wrote after watching Piccolo vs Frieza in DBZ. There's one guy who's been helping me with that lately, Cetoel from DeviantArt, who's been sending me several videos from great actions scenes. Thanks to him, I already know how the final battle between Fujimaru and Arturo will end. N13: Another thing I like a lot is the shift between drama and humor. How do you write those scenes? K08: Well, I try to follow what Kubo does and that's one of the things. A huge amount of drama but somewhere in between that there's a joke. I remember the Gotei 13 Captains being in the middle of a meeting during the battle against Arturo's forces, everyone's worried with what's going on and then out pops Mayuri to make fun of them calling them little people and stuff like that. That's Bleach. If I want to make this right, I have to write in the same style Kubo does and that's adventure, action, drama and humor. N13: A lot of readers have been asking for romance. Your take on that? K08: Doesn't work for me. Bleach isn't a romance manga. The only instance you saw that was Orihime declaring herself to Ichigo and we've seen how nothing has developed out of that. It's just because Bleach isn't a romance series. It's like Naruto. We knew of Hinata's love for Naruto and Sakura's love for Sasuke, but nothing came out of that during the actual story. Too much was going on. People were pissed that Kishimoto only addressed that in the epilogue, but I think it was the right call. Quoting Kubo: "I don't want to make Bleach into a love story because there are much more exciting things about their personalities and things that they can do instead of getting into the romance aspect of their relationships." That's just right. I he wanted to do that, he would write a romance manga, not an adventure/action one. N13: Even so, you played around with the idea of Fujimaru x Sui-Feng and Matsuri x Kaien. Perhaps that's why people have been insisting on that? Perhaps they enjoyed that and now want to see more? K08: I did that because at the time it felt right. Matsuri had a simple crush on Kaien, having that move further was a sign of growth in her part. She started to give more importance on things. Plus, now with Kaien dead, it adds to her desperate situation and creates to side plots: how she will deal with Rukia? how will she deal with Aaroniero? As for Fujimaru and Sui-Feng, that was more to give a human side to Sui-Feng at the time. At the same time it made for very interesting scenes, either humorous or dramatic. Sui-Feng showing her feelings regarding her dead brothers during that infamous Rangiku scene was very important in my mind, again it showed her human side. Nowadays, we know how things are and I think that also added to the story. It added to Fujimaru's despair, but it also reinforced that Sui-Feng is human and is still Fujimaru's friend. She'll do everything for him despite their feelings. I don't want to write them as a pairing, but I want to continue teasing the readers. Who knows if in the end they don't end up together? Right now, it's out of question. Too many things will happen, Fujimaru should be just focused on his goal. N13: One thing we can agree is that was a very interesting sidestory and still is. Another awesome sidestory in my mind was Gin and Rangiku's during Part I. How did you come with that? K08: In the game they were around during that time. I had to write them in Rukongai, but to do so I had to tweak the original story a bit. Instead of joining the 5th Division at the start of TBTP I had him joining at the end. Actually there's nothing in the manga that says when he did join. The only thing that is said is that the end of TBTP happened 10 years after Urahara became Captain. Who knows? Perhaps a few years passed between a few panels... But back to the point, I had to make Gin and Rangiku join the Academy during that time if I wanted to work that in the timeline. So I had to do something and I decided to pick everything we knew about their past and fit in there. Gin going to Seireitei to go after Aizen was obvious. He had to join the Academy, he did. Rangiku was said to be in the Academy at the same time, so she had to be brought in somehow. The twins brought her in. Why did Gin leave Rangiku behind? That's what Fujimaru went to find out. It's just stopping and asking oneself "What's the next logic thing to happen?" and then put it on paper... or in this case in the laptop. N13: That's great because you're not just doing play-by-play commentary there, you add your own stuff to the story. K08: I never intended to do play-by-play, said it a million times already. That's an example, bringing the former Captains and Vice-Captains into the fray was another one. Again, it's just thinking logically, if this happens, what happens next? If the story was 100 years before, then they had to be there. The only times I do play-by-play is when I really have to, one example being the anime fillers we had at the start of the Arrancar Arc. N13: I love how much depth you added to those characters, specifically the Vice-Captains who we didn't know anything about. How was it for you "creating" those characters? K08: I loved it. I actually didn't think about that and just started to write them as it went. I found myself in absolute love for Chikane Iba and Jin'emon Kotsubaki. Those were my favorites at the time. I had so much fun writing them. Chikane ended up being a stricter Nanao, while Jin'emon was a mix of his son with Tetsuzaemon, a manly loudmouth. I also enjoyed Kiganjo, making him so obnoxious that he would piss everyone, but at the same time adding that little bit about justice that was referred in the Bount Arc. Seinosuke was hard at first, as I didn't knew how to add that part of him having a "nasty side". Then light appeared inside the bulb, I decided I would write him as misguided and misunderstood later, and just kept writing him as on older version of Hanataro's kindness. Sojun was hard too, keeping him more or less strict like his son, but also showing that kindness Byakuya seemed to lack. Those were really, really fun times to write. N13: One thing I also admire in that is that you used so many characters per chapter and everything seemed to flow so naturally. Was it hard to fit all those characters? K08: Not at all. I just had to remember who we have, so I had a paper with every character by division written down. I just had to look and say "this one should be, this one too, if that one goes then that one as well..." N13: What about the other characters? You made me really enjoy some I didn't really like at first with your writing. Did the same happen to you? K08: I think I like all characters because I really like Bleach as a whole, some more some less. But indeed, some characters grew on me as I wrote. I already loved Kukaku and I did even more as I started to write her. I loved writing comic relief with Rose and Hiyori. Gin and Kyoraku are always pretty fun to write too. Kaien was also a surprise, I really enjoyed him too. N13: What about the game characters? K08: Love them all. It has been a pretty fun ride with them. The dynamics between the twins came out pretty well, nowadays I miss writing them together. Seigen and Konoka were a bit more difficult, but I started to like them as well. Right now I'm still trying to transition Seigen into the evil side, is a bit more complicated. Arturo's sense of superiority is something I love to write and now I've started to insert one of inferiority that creates in my mind a very nice character overall. I have some surprises for Arturo, I think in the end when he goes away people might miss him. Shiyo is another I enjoy to write greatly because of the comic relief. I think that the ones I'm able to poke fun at always end up in my top favorite characters. N13: That's another thing I wanted to ask. You're comic relief is great. How is it to write those scenes? K08: Well, you know me, I'm always telling jokes and poking fun at others, so it becomes quite easy. Although, sometimes I stop to wonder if what I wrote is really funny... And I'll admit, I steal some stuff from other pieces of media, but that's only in the omakes. N13: Yeah, about the omakes... That's always a highlight for me, even more so when Gin plays Crocodile Hunter! Where do you come up with that stuff? K08: You guessed right in one of your reviews, that's from a WWE RAW segment from 2002. For the first two ones with Szayelaporro and Nnoitra I based myself on that one segment. For those who don't know of it go to Youtube and search for "Goldust NWO" it should be the first one... Anyway, for the omakes I just come up with an idea and make the omake around that idea. There were a few about certain characters' birthdays and the most recent one in Chapter 67 came after I came across Margaret Thatcher on some news. I stopped to think, who would be Soul Society's Iron Lady... Okay, it's Sui-Feng. What am I gonna do with this? I took a look at the chapter, came across the bit with Sui-Feng and Fujimaru and... okay, I'll have someone prove those claims wrong. Who would do it? The news magazine of Soul Society, so Hisagi... from there it was quite easy. I add a few jokes, some I think of myself, some I take from old wrestling segments, some I take from works like Team Four Star's DBZ Abridged... It depends on what happens at the moment I'm writing. But yeah, I've been happy about how people seem to be enjoying those. N13: Now the reverse of the coin... How about the dramatic scenes? K08: That's probably the hardest. Fight scenes are easy, comic relief is easy, adventure is essentially following the plot, the drama... well, in the end it's that old formula. What's the logic thing to happen here? Or better, what would hurt this character if it happened now? But yeah, that's probably the hardest. N13: As for the writing itself, you've improved greatly. You even started to write longer chapters as time went on, going from 2000 word chapters to around 7000/8000. You were pretty good speaking and writing in English already, so how did you improve even further? K08: By writing more and more. I had great help from Cloud Link Zero when I started, as he served as my Beta Reader. He pointed out the mistakes, gave me some ideas and pushed me to write longer chapters. N13: I wanted to ask you about the characters one by one, like people use to do with Kubo, similar to how it happened for the final arc. Can you tell the readers some of the stuff that will happen in the future? K08: No spoilers. Even more it's hard to do so in this case... There's a goal in the timeline, which is ending Part II before Orihime is kidnapped. From there people know none of the original characters die or get stronger than they already were. As for the ones in the game, those who played the game know how things will play out more or less. Of course, no one knows which abilities Matsuri and Fujimaru will have and stuff like that, but know what will end up happening. So that's why I think the sequel will be a success. There's where people will start guessing what will really happen from now on. N13: Well, you mentioned that you plan to show us the Bankai of characters like Shinji and Ukitake in the sequel. Any other stuff like that to leave people guessing already? ''' K08: You're starting to play dirty. '''N13: Just a few ones... Let's say, Urahara? K08: Big part of the sequel, can't say anything about him... But we'll probably see his Bankai as well. N13: Yoruichi? K08: Another big part... absolutely nothing will come out of my mouth regarding her. N13: Royal Guard? I'm actually curious about that since you designed them quite differently. K08: Royal Guard will appear, with a different structure. The manga has shown that more people live up there along with the Big 5, like Kirinji's subordinates, so I'll go ahead with my original idea. There's more than just those 5 lurking around. As for the design, I'll retcon Hikifune, but I'll keep the black coats. Any more information, you'll have to wait and see. N13: Will the Visored and Arrancar be around? K08: Everyone will be involved. Shinigami, Humans, Arrancar, Visored, Fullbrings, even Togabito... if Kubo lets some Quincy alive they'll probably be dragged into the mess eventually as well. N13: What about the bad guy? Who'll it be? K08: Can't say. But will be dangerous enough to pit friends against each other, kill a bunch of powerful people and put every dimension in danger. That's why Togabito will be involved too, since Hell is also in danger. N13: Ichigo or the twins? Who will be the sequel's main character(s)? K08: At one point, the three will have the same degree of importance. But in the end, Ichigo will be the main of main characters. It's Bleach after all. N13: Knowing you this should probably be true... Any unexpected characters will take on an important role? Like, I don't know... Kon or Don Kanoji? K08: Kanonji will actually receive a power up and fight someone! Not a very important battle, but a battle nonetheless. Not sure what I'll do with Kon, though... As for others, I can tell that Mayuri will battle for the title of most intelligent character of Bleach with Urahara and Aizen, since he'll show that he's so many steps ahead of others that isn't even close. Speaking about Aizen, he'll return. Oh and I'm still deciding if Ukitake ends up destroying all of Seireitei with his Bankai or not. Probably will though. N13: Well, I'm starting to get pumped... Thanks for your time. Anything else you want to say to the readers? K08: I should be thanking you, this only adds more to this project. I also want to thank the readers for their time to read my story and for their continuous support. Keep reading and keep telling others about it. Category:Interviews Category:Kyoraku08